


Heat of Body, Heat of Heart

by KamikazeWorld



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, Sickfic, Vanitas: HISSSSS, wayfinder trio: ACCEPT OUR LOVE AND CARE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:29:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23143210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KamikazeWorld/pseuds/KamikazeWorld
Summary: In which Vanitas gets sick for the very first time and is very prickly about it.
Relationships: Aqua & Terra & Vanitas & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Aqua & Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts), Terra & Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts), Vanitas & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 92





	Heat of Body, Heat of Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [StarlightSora](https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarlightSora/gifts).



> With everything going on right now, and my friend coming down with the flu (thankfully JUST the flu), I figured I'd write a little sickfic with everyone's favorite bastard child. It was mostly started to give some comfort to my friend, who I really hope will enjoy this <333

Since being pulled out from the darkness and the void of nothingness by his other half, Vanitas had had the fortune (and misfortune) of experiencing a lot of different things and sensations that he previously had never had the chance to. Among them were various flavors (he found that spicy food was something he liked, but sweets weren’t all bad either), humiliation (some people had taken to teasing him now that they no longer perceived him as a threat, and he was less than pleased to find out his ears turned red and gave his embarrassment away), hugs (he did not like to be touched, and refused to be held responsible for any bite marks on the people who still tried), and, tentatively… happiness.

Kindness was still something he struggled to understand. It made little sense to him why people would bend to the will of others or give meaningless comments, without any chance of personal gain. Yet everyone around him kept doing it; Aqua kept complimenting him when she thought he did something good, Ventus kept smiling at him and doing him “favors”, and Terra would do things he thought would help make Vanitas comfortable. It all confused him, but there was a spot in his fractured heart that would warm up at their continued efforts to interact with him, something that felt so different from the usual cold, sharp feelings that made up his existence.

For all that a lot of these new sensations confused him, Vanitas decided that the one he was currently experiencing was probably the most inconvenient one yet. Since somewhere during the night, he had started feeling lightheaded, which made no sense since he hadn’t done any strenuous physical activities outside the normal, and he hadn’t taken any hits to the head. He also didn’t need sleep the same way others did, no matter what Ventus said (and Ventus slept more than enough for both of them, so where did he get off lecturing Vanitas about sleep habits anyway?), so it couldn’t be that. Just for the sake of it, he did try resting, but found that the sensation turned from lightness to an uncomfortable pressure by the time the sun rose over the Land of Departure, and if that didn’t prove that sleep wasn’t for him, he didn’t know what else would.

With a grumbled curse, Vanitas sat down at the kitchen table and immediately slouched down, head in hand, frown in place, signaling as loudly as he could that he did not want to talk. Unfortunately, no one seemed to get the memo.

“What’s wrong with you? Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?” Aqua asked, an amused tilt to her lips and in her arched eyebrow. He did detect a layer of concern under it, however - he couldn’t not, even the mildest worry resonating with the negativity he was made of - and he elected to merely grumble in response instead of snapping at her.

“None of your business,” he muttered, massaging at his temple and hoping to the powers that be that there was at least coffee. Maybe coffee would make his head feel better, even if the pain had now spread and was accompanied by a heaviness in his limbs, a sluggishness in his movements, and an odd sort of hot coldness he couldn’t explain.

As if hearing his thoughts, a mug filled with hot, brown liquid was gently placed in front of him on the table, courtesy of Terra. Vanitas drank most of it without a word, but he figured all of them had come to expect him to not thank them at this point.

“Are you feeling okay, Vanitas?” Terra asked, just to be annoying, clearly. He was looking at him with furrowed brows, radiating concern.

“Peachy,” was Vanitas’ short reply.

“Really?” Aqua asked, because they always conspired together. “Because you do look a little pale… Well, paler than usual.”

“Har har. Where’s Ventus?”

“Morning workout,” Terra replied, and Vanitas didn’t give him chance to elaborate, or worse, keep trying to act worried.

“Perfect.” With that, he pushed away from the table, dumped his mug in the sink on the way out, and left the two keyblade masters staring after him. He ignored their concerned calls.

Something within him was buzzing, a restlessness that wanted out and an agitation that felt like a physical weight pushing down his body and pressing against his head. He figured that if he could catch Ventus at practice, he could get it out by fighting him. Seemed like a plan as reasonable as anything else, anyway.

Making his way to the training hall took… significantly more effort than it should have. As he stalked through the halls, he felt as though he was moving his limbs through water, and the throbbing in his head kept getting worse, followed by shivers throughout his body. He squeezed his eyes shut against it, leaning against the wall for support. What was wrong with him? He needed to find Ventus. If he could just get whatever it was out of his system, it would be alright, surely.

“Hey, Ventus,” he called when he finally made it to the hall, arms crossed and leaning against the open doorway. Ventus, who had been in the middle of attacking a defenseless dummy, nearly tripped over his own feet in surprise. It made a small smirk spread across Vanitas’ face and he took the last steps inside the hall.

“Vanitas! What’s up? You, uh. You here to train?”

“Maybe so. Heard you were here, so I figured, why not go a round? Beating you seems like a good way to start the day, after all.”

“Gee, thanks,” Ventus drawled, rolling his eyes. But he still gave Vanitas that bright smile that made his chest feel too tight and that spark of warmth flare in the darkness of his heart, more so than any of the others could manage. He huffed and looked away. “Well, I was just about to finish up, but I’m down if you are. Are you warmed up already?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let’s just go.”

Ignoring Ventus’ well meaning concern, he summoned his own keyblade, crouching down in a familiar position, ready to strike. Ventus hesitated for a moment, the bastard, before he too got into attack stance. Vanitas took a breath, willing the ache in his body and head to go away, focused all he could on his opponent, let instinct take over and _moved_.

The reverberating clash of keyblade against keyblade should have been a welcomed sound, but it echoed in his ears as loud as drums, as sharp as a screech, and it took him a moment to fight off the wave of dizziness it brought. A moment in which Ventus attacked and Vanitas had just enough time to sidestep it to avoid getting hit. He prepared to counter once more, only for Ventus to stop and look him over. It made something prickle uncomfortable at the back of his neck.

“Vanitas, are you okay?” he asked, and it irked Vanitas more than when the other two had done the same. It made him feel angry, exposed, too uncomfortable in his own aching skin. Weak. With a growl, he got back into battle stance and raised his keyblade.

“Shut up and just fight me, Ven!” he demanded and made a move, but his limbs were still heavy, his vision tilted drastically, and suddenly Ventus’ hands were on him, holding him steady.

“Woah! T-take it easy,” he said, worry rolling off of him in waves. It was annoying. All of it, the whole situation, these people always worrying and hovering and fretting. “Vanitas?” The pressure in his head thudded against his ears. Why did Ventus suddenly sound so far away? He could taste fear from his heart. “Vanitas!”

Everything went black.

***

He faded into consciousness slowly, a little at a time. The world felt blurry around the edges, muted and dull. His body was so heavy, but at the same time he felt like he was floating, like when he was in the void. Everything ached, and he noticed dimly that he was in a bed. He did not recall how he had gotten there, and he wanted to be alarmed, but found that his mind was too sluggish to muster up any vigilance or urgency.

There was something cool on his forehead, just then, soothing the ache. He let out a soft sigh of relief. He tried to reach up to see what it was, but his arm felt weak, and someone gently pushed it back down again when he moved. Finally, he opened his eyes, and blearily looked up at his other.

“You idiot,” Ventus scolded softly. “You should have told us you were sick.”

“Sick…?” Was that it? The reason he felt so weak, as though he had been beaten into last thursday?

“Yeah, you--” Ven started, but cut himself off. Vanitas noticed how his eyes went wide with shocked realization. “Wait. You don’t know what being sick means, do you?”

Vanitas had no good answer for that question, so he instead opted to do the mature thing, and simply turned his head away from Ventus to glare at the wall.

“Vanitas…“

“Shut up,” he grumbled. The smile in Ventus’ voice, teasing and fond, made his ears feel warm, and he hated it. “Just tell me what’s wrong with me.”

To his surprise, Terra was the one that answered. He hadn’t even noticed the man - or Aqua, for that matter, who he spotted sitting by the foot of the bed, worried smile in place.

“Basically, you caught a virus and your body is trying to get rid of it. That’s why you’re feeling hot and dizzy, or too cold at times. It should pass quickly,” he explained, and when Vanitas opened his mouth to respond, Terra held up a finger to stop him, simultaneously mischievous yet sincere glint in his eyes, “ _if_ you let us take care of you.”

Well. The only response Vanitas could give to that was a loud groan, really.

“I’m not a baby, Terra.”

“We’re not saying you are,” Aqua replied. Her hand gently touched his leg through the blanket that covered him, reassuring and irritating. “Letting others care about you doesn’t make you weak, Vanitas. It just makes it easier. Less painful. And no one here wants to see you suffer.”

Next to him, he saw Ventus nod his head in agreement. Less painful, she said…

He still didn’t understand kindness. They had nothing to gain from helping him, to look after him. Yet he found that in his current condition, with his body still aching and his head spinning, the touch from Aqua was… oddly more comforting than annoying. The soft look from Ventus irked him, but his presence didn’t. Terra’s straightforward explanation and demand to help, despite his clear reluctance and the inconvenience it would cause them… It all made that little spark in his dark heart grow a little warmer, a little greater. It warmed parts of him he hadn’t known were cold, a comforting feeling compared to the physical temperature of his body. Perhaps having people who cared… wasn’t so bad, after all.

Perhaps, just this once, he could let them.

“Fine,” he sighed. “Do whatever you want. Not like I can stop you right now, anyway.”

“You’re right, you actually can’t,” Ventus said with a grin, and Vanitas wanted to roll his eyes. Instead, to his own surprise, he found himself giving a small, amused smile back, just an upwards tilt of the corner of his mouth. It made Ven’s smile even brighter, somehow, and a hand reached out to his hair, ruffling it gently. “Sorry, I know you don’t like touch much, but I figured you could need it right now,” he said softly.

Of all the sensations Vanitas had experienced so far, this was by far the oddest. Being sick apparently made everything flip upside down, because he didn’t actually hate the touch. It felt soothing, as the cloth still on his forehead spreading coolness through him, and made his eyes drift shut again. He hummed, not having the words to reply, but the hand in his hair kept petting, softly, gently, and before he knew it, he was falling asleep.

As he drifted to the realm of sleep, he knew one thing for certain: the warmth in his chest was what happiness was supposed to be. Perhaps the idiots around him weren’t so bad, after all. He would most likely change his mind again when he no longer had a fever weighing him down, but for now he let that warm happiness lull him peacefully to sleep as his reluctantly chosen family watched over him, making sure he was safe and cared for.


End file.
